Several weeks have passed since the Seattle Kraken made a significant splash in free agency by committing $90 million to two high-profile signings. Assuming no trades on the horizon, the Kraken’s roster appears set for the 2024-25 season. I have previously stated on the Sound Of Hockey Podcast that both Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour are likely to immediately join the first power play unit when the regular season begins. Evaluating the impact of these additions to the power play is challenging, but I wanted to take a deep dive into the Kraken’s power play potential.
Historical power play performance
The Kraken’s power play performance last season was not bad; in terms of power play execution percentage, they were just slightly below league average and ranked 17th in the league.
Additionally, the Kraken’s power play has improved in each of the last three seasons.
The improvement between 2021-22 and 2022-23 can largely be attributed to the acquisitions of quality shooters Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen, and a full year of Daniel Sprong, replacing the power play minutes of Marcus Johansson, Calle Jarnkrok, Morgan Geekie, Joonas Donskoi, and a portion of the minutes of Ryan Donato and Yanni Gourde.
It is probably a safe assumption to expect Montour to take Schultz’s power play time on ice, plus more. Stephenson will likely end up in the top five in power play time on ice next season. He will replace all of Wennberg’s power play time and, likely, Jaden Schwartz’s time as well, since they all play similar roles on the power play. Montour had the most power play time on ice for defensemen on Florida with 15,466 seconds, while Stephenson had the third most power play time on Vegas with 12,957 seconds. Clearly, Montour and Stephenson were key pieces of their respective teams’ power plays, but how much are they contributing to power play scoring?
Contribution of power play points
Evaluating how much a player contributes to scoring on a power play is a rather simple calculation: the sum of a player’s points divided by the total team’s power play goals.
This is how the Kraken looked last season:
Now let’s bring in Montour and Stephenson to see how they stack up.
It is not a perfect analysis, but if Montour and Stephenson contribute at the same rate with the Kraken as they did with their 2023-24 teams, they will certainly provide an upgrade over the players they will be replacing on the power play.
Chandler Stephenson’s passing
One thing public models cannot evaluate very well, if at all, is a player’s ability to pass the puck. Most public models use the play-by-play data published by the NHL for every game. If you scan through any game’s play-by-play data, you won’t see ‘pass’ as a play type. This unfairly handicaps the evaluation of elite passers. I am not saying that Chandler Stephenson is an elite passer, but I know he is at least a ‘very good’ passer.
Here are a couple examples of power play assists from Stephenson.
Adding a player like Stephenson to the Kraken’s power play will be exciting to watch. He has the potential to elevate the play of those around him and could significantly increase the team’s execution and options on the power play.
Wrapping it up
The Kraken’s power play has steadily improved over the past three seasons, and the additions of Stephenson and Montour provide an opportunity to build on that momentum. Both players bring substantial power play experience and proven track records of contributing to their former teams’ success. Stephenson’s exceptional passing ability could be a game-changer, creating a more dynamic power play. While predicting the exact impact of these new additions is challenging, the potential for a more potent and effective power play is evident. As the season unfolds, it will be exciting to see how these changes translate on the ice and if the Kraken can become one of the top 10 power play teams in the league.